Contributing to Gnucap

There are a number of ways that you can contribute to help make
Gnucap a better system. Perhaps the most important way to
contribute is to write high-quality code for solving new problems,
and to make your code freely available for others to use.

You can add significant value by developing models, even macro
models, that can be distributed. Converting Spice models,
publicizing which ones already work, or documenting any features
that Gnucap needs to make it work, are all valuable
contributions.

You can develop support programs for Gnucap. Gnucap is, and
will remain, an "engine". It will perform calculations, but rely
on support programs to provide a modern user interface.
Developing these programs, and interfacing to existing ones, is a
very valuable contribution.

If you find Gnucap useful, consider providing additional
funding to continue its development. Even a modest amount of
additional funding could make a significant difference in the
amount of time that is available for development and support.

If you cannot provide funding or contribute code, you can still
help make Gnucap better and more reliable by reporting any bugs
you find and by offering suggestions for ways to improve
Gnucap.

If you are a teacher or professor, you are making a significant
contribution simply by using free software in your courses, and
showing the students that they really do have a choice in
software. You can further the contribution by encouraging student
software projects that can be released as free software. You can
also further the contribution by writing texts that use free
software in the coursework, providing an alternative to those
texts that promote closed source commercial software.

If you are an academic researcher, you can contribute by
releasing your own software under GPL, and collaborating with
others who do. You can help by using only open standards and
avoiding proprietary languages such as the modeling languages of
some proprietary simulators.

If you are a commercial user, you can help by giving financial
support or equipment to the developers. Often, (as is the case
with Gnucap), the principal developers are in the academic
community, so by supporting free software, you are also supporting
academic research and providing financial support for
students.